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mike029 wrote:I've been here 3 years and I totally feel this way. I'm also a very sociable person and love to go out, but these last 6 months I've been so out of it. I thought I was just depressed being here, so over CNY I went on this extravagant unplanned trip all over the place for 2 months. Came back here and it's back to being judgmental of everyone because everyone besides me sucks and just watching reruns of NCIS on Channel 74 because apparently that's the only show that's on. Ever.

I have unfulfilling days at a school where I feel retarded attending. I'm trying to make my business grow but there's nobody competent that can help me do the menial stuff and I'm being overloaded with work (which I guess is good). I didn't even finish my own company's website yet...hung up on graphics ATM. I stay up until 4AM like right now because I'm also working on my own secret massive project, but I have to do crap for clients too that doesn't require my brain power, just my time...the worst part is that I literally feel like I'm wasting time at school. But! I have to graduate because even though I want my own success, I still need a degree at least to SPONSOR MY OWN FRIGGIN VISA. I'm 23 and am a sophomore in Uni. My situation at MCU is pretty favorable right now (get $25k a month from the government and an American accredited program), but I literally feel like being there is killing me. We have a "multimedia" class where we make animations by drawing pics in MS Paint then putting them in a PPT. Last week we had to "embed a video in a web page", and we had 4 hours to do it, IN A GROUP. My group waited for me because they knew I could just do it quickly. I showed up an hour late, got my grade docked for the day because I missed an hour, and then I "embedded a video in a web page" in 10 seconds by copy pasting youtube embed code and changing the size. He wouldn't let me leave early because it's 丟臉 for the other students that I can do it so quickly. So, I had to sit there for another 3 hours and 50 minutes.

You go outside and try to drive home where you witness an accident where nobody is helping, then a 7-11 delivery truck passes you on the left so when he gets in front of you he can just pull over, 4 busses almost side-swipe you, and then you get to the restaurant to buy some dinner and you realize, "oh, it's just noodles with different sauce on it, my bad, with this exotic of a name that doesn't make any sense, I was under the impression that it would be something new to try", then it starts pouring on you the last 20 seconds before you get home.

I like to get out of Taipei once every 2-3 weeks just to clear my head. Yesterday morning, the weather was so nice I thought I would drive to Taimall, even though I hate that mall, but I couldn't think of any other reason to go to Taoyuan. After I bought a new shirt and some shoes (finally had my size), I go out to find...RAIN. I got stuck in Taoyuan for 5 hours before it stopped raining and I felt like I could drive home. Worst 5 hours ever. I sat in a wangka. There was no way I was going to leave my scoot scoot and bus it back...that would mean I would have to go back to Taoyuan to get my scooter. *insert puking smilie*

I need to sleep now, got statistics at 9AM! EVEN THOUGH I ALREADY TOOK 2 SEMESTERS OF STATISTICS AT Zheng-Da THEY WOULDN'T TAKE MY CREDITS. I'm pretty sure Zheng-Da's statistics class is better than yours, Mingchuan. Whatever, I'm using my same final project. Let's not forget PE at 1PM! And this Friday is a mandatory assembly thing where we have to listen to some girl give a presentation about her "international volunteer experience", whatever the fuck that means. Good job, you got to visit starving kids in Africa and share Jesus' love with them. Why didn't you just take the plane ticket money and donate it you self-righteous bitch? Don't go to the assembly, you get "2 conduct score demerits" (yes, we have a conduct grade) and have to do 8 hours of community service or something.

I need to sleep well and get ready for my awful tomorrow. When it will probably rain, again.

well you cant say your life is boring then...even if sometimes it sucks to be you

Anybody who thinks Taipei doesn't have much of a night life scene...um...must be living under a rock down in rural Taidong County.

No, it's not San Francisco, Chicago, or NY. It's different. But it's unique, with its own style, and there is far more than one mortal person could possibly ever do on a given night in terms of clubbing, live music, film festivals, art shows etc plus all the temples, traditional culture, and , yes, night markets.

I don't care for night markets all that much myself now although they were pretty exciting when I first arrived. Having said that, I will be very sad the day my local night market with its three little seafood restaurants rocking at 11pm on a Sunday night gets torn down in the name of making Taipei more like Melbourne. As pleasant as I am sure Melbourne is, I like Taipei the way it is.

Personally, I'd rather crawl under the rock in Taidong County.

GuyInTaiwan wrote:

Rabidpie wrote:That being said, I really think the thing here is your age and not the place you are living. Taiwan is definitely a very exciting place at night compared to most Western countries.

Dunno about that. I'm from Melbourne. There's an absolutely kick arse live music scene there (pick a genre, practically any night of the week, and you'll have a dozen gigs you could see), not to mention a whole lot of other art and cultural activities. Hardly a week goes by without some sort of international festival going on. I'm not just supporting the home team here. Melbourne is internationally famous as an awesome place to go out in. Taipei isn't. There are plenty of other large cities in the West that are kick arse too. Sure, if you're living in the boonies or a smaller city or town, they suck, but they suck in Taiwan too. Let's compare apples to apples. Taipei is Taiwan's largest city and has several million people. Other such cities in the West include New York, London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Vienna. Even relatively small places like Copenhagen are pretty cool. I'd also like to throw in one non-Western city that is absolutely awesome at night: Istanbul.

What is so exciting about Taiwan at night? Night markets? Night clubs (that exist everywhere in the world)?

I lived in SAn Fran for years and yes while there are many places to go to, you still have to have good company to go there with. The people here are generally NOT into making your their friends just because you happen to be there . You have to bring your own for the most part.

Iv been just bout everywhere around here and in the end, its all the same. Same old , same old. And i mostly go to my fav dives or come home right after work.

Everyone pretty much ends up with a routine. And excursions out of this routine does NOT always bring pleasure.

And I like to think I can play the guitar ( and there was a time I could be said to be able to). And i really can NOT stand shitty bands. Theres some good ones but lets face it, a lot of em are pretty crappy out there.

I hardly ever went to night markets in Taiwan. Id say maybe 3 times a year? But id rather go to a nitemarket in taiwan then hang out in a dive with a shitty band (a good band yes but not a shitty one). But there are many places that rock but still that dont mean much if you cant really make freinds there.

In taiwan you can go to a night spot and actually make friends. I think much easier for the most part.

You seem really unhappy and angry in Taiwan. I think you should leave if you can. You don't like the place although perhaps you will come to change your mind if you stay for a while.

Minquan is a glorified high school. Of course you hate it and won't learn anything there.

Anyone who goes to Taoyuan to get out of Taipei and clear their head obviously doesn't know what to do in Taiwan.

mike029 wrote:I've been here 3 years and I totally feel this way. I'm also a very sociable person and love to go out, but these last 6 months I've been so out of it. I thought I was just depressed being here, so over CNY I went on this extravagant unplanned trip all over the place for 2 months. Came back here and it's back to being judgmental of everyone because everyone besides me sucks and just watching reruns of NCIS on Channel 74 because apparently that's the only show that's on. Ever.

I have unfulfilling days at a school where I feel retarded attending. I'm trying to make my business grow but there's nobody competent that can help me do the menial stuff and I'm being overloaded with work (which I guess is good). I didn't even finish my own company's website yet...hung up on graphics ATM. I stay up until 4AM like right now because I'm also working on my own secret massive project, but I have to do crap for clients too that doesn't require my brain power, just my time...the worst part is that I literally feel like I'm wasting time at school. But! I have to graduate because even though I want my own success, I still need a degree at least to SPONSOR MY OWN FRIGGIN VISA. I'm 23 and am a sophomore in Uni. My situation at MCU is pretty favorable right now (get $25k a month from the government and an American accredited program), but I literally feel like being there is killing me. We have a "multimedia" class where we make animations by drawing pics in MS Paint then putting them in a PPT. Last week we had to "embed a video in a web page", and we had 4 hours to do it, IN A GROUP. My group waited for me because they knew I could just do it quickly. I showed up an hour late, got my grade docked for the day because I missed an hour, and then I "embedded a video in a web page" in 10 seconds by copy pasting youtube embed code and changing the size. He wouldn't let me leave early because it's 丟臉 for the other students that I can do it so quickly. So, I had to sit there for another 3 hours and 50 minutes.

You go outside and try to drive home where you witness an accident where nobody is helping, then a 7-11 delivery truck passes you on the left so when he gets in front of you he can just pull over, 4 busses almost side-swipe you, and then you get to the restaurant to buy some dinner and you realize, "oh, it's just noodles with different sauce on it, my bad, with this exotic of a name that doesn't make any sense, I was under the impression that it would be something new to try", then it starts pouring on you the last 20 seconds before you get home.

I like to get out of Taipei once every 2-3 weeks just to clear my head. Yesterday morning, the weather was so nice I thought I would drive to Taimall, even though I hate that mall, but I couldn't think of any other reason to go to Taoyuan. After I bought a new shirt and some shoes (finally had my size), I go out to find...RAIN. I got stuck in Taoyuan for 5 hours before it stopped raining and I felt like I could drive home. Worst 5 hours ever. I sat in a wangka. There was no way I was going to leave my scoot scoot and bus it back...that would mean I would have to go back to Taoyuan to get my scooter. *insert puking smilie*

I need to sleep now, got statistics at 9AM! EVEN THOUGH I ALREADY TOOK 2 SEMESTERS OF STATISTICS AT Zheng-Da THEY WOULDN'T TAKE MY CREDITS. I'm pretty sure Zheng-Da's statistics class is better than yours, Mingchuan. Whatever, I'm using my same final project. Let's not forget PE at 1PM! And this Friday is a mandatory assembly thing where we have to listen to some girl give a presentation about her "international volunteer experience", whatever the fuck that means. Good job, you got to visit starving kids in Africa and share Jesus' love with them. Why didn't you just take the plane ticket money and donate it you self-righteous bitch? Don't go to the assembly, you get "2 conduct score demerits" (yes, we have a conduct grade) and have to do 8 hours of community service or something.

I need to sleep well and get ready for my awful tomorrow. When it will probably rain, again.

Feiren: The old chestnut of me living in Taidong. Grief. I lived in the north of Taiwan for 2.5 years and went out tons in Taipei. I know how this one works though. Even if I lived in Taipei, and had been living there for twenty years, the charge would be that I hadn't been to the right places.

You completely missed my point. Taipei doesn't have to be like Melbourne, but let's be honest here, when people think of international cities with lots of culture and activities, they don't think of Taipei. Even if we narrow it down to Asian cities, they still don't think of Taipei. Most people don't even know where Taiwan is, and there's a reason for that. There's a reason that international acts all make Tokyo a stop over. There's a reason tourists go to Japan, China, Southeast Asia, but relatively no one comes here. It's precisely this reason that on the odd occasion when anyone famous from outside east Asia ever comes here, the media make such an enormous big deal about it.

Outside of Japan, Taipei is by far one the best place to live in Asia. Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh, HCMC, Hanoi are far more "boring", Jakarta and Manila are hell, and living in China sucks. Lots of issues in Bangkok since a couple of years. I have no idea about Singapore as I've never been there.

So what though? All that says is that it has very poor competition. Being the best of a bad bunch is hardly an achievement. Look at those lists that regularly get done about world's most liveable cities. They're the ones you want to compete against.

And you coming in to scold us all like some kind of sour-puss kindie assistant who favors olive cardigans and lemon drinks without sugar. -- Muzha Man

One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words "Socialism" and "Communism" draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, "Nature Cure" quack, pacifist, and feminist in England. -- George Orwell

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